Sterling and Currency - Pre-Federation Noteshttps://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/research/pre-federation-notes
enAustralia's Pre-Federation Banknotes - A Rich and Complex Serieshttps://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/research/australias-pre-federation-banknotes-rich-and-complex-series
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p>Australia's pre-Federation banknotes are a rich and complex series that captures the history of Australia’s growing economy throughout the 19th century.</p>
<p>As these privately-issued notes are so starkly different to the single series of currency notes we use across the country today, it is an area that can be foreboding for the novice collector.</p>
<p>A large number of banks issued notes across many cities; states and decades - each one of those banks issued several different series of notes, often with markedly different designs and often in different denominations.</p>
<p>As the cost of a pre-Federation note can run into the hundreds; thousands and even tens of thousands of dollars, rather than risk making a decision that might cost them a significant sum, many collectors choose to steer clear of this series completely.</p>
<p>This is a real shame, as Australia’s banking system during the 1800’s has been described by one prominent economist as <em>"one of the most interesting historical experiences of free banking. Australian banking was relatively free for almost a century…"1</em></p>
<p>The banknotes issued by Australia’s private banks during this period are tangible mementos of <em>"how well the theory of free banking has worked in practice.”</em> 2</p>
<p>This is a series that is unique in world numismatics, they are a physical record we can all be proud of.</p>
<p>The first step in understanding one of these notes is to learn how each it is classified into one of four forms - proof, specimen, issued and superscribed. Each of these different classes has their own appeal to collectors.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Printer's Proof Note</strong>:<img src="http://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/files/PREFED_PROOF.jpg" alt="Pre Federation Printer's Proof Banknote " title="Pre Federation Printer's Proof Banknote " style="padding: 10px; float: right;" /></p>
<p>Printer’s proof notes were generally used by printing and bank staff in the early stages of the printing process when signing off on design elements and designs.</p>
<p>Proofs are usually (but not always) printed in black ink, and are often (but not always) printed on firm card. Printer’s proof notes can be printed either just on one side or on both sides.</p>
<p>Minor elements of the design of a printer’s proof note may differ from those seen on the issued version of the note.</p>
<p>Printer’s proof notes often have notations in either pencil or ink by bank or printer staff in the margins.</p>
<p>Although some printer’s proof notes have the term “Specimen” stamped or punched into them, this alone does not designate them as specimen notes.</p>
<p>Some pre-Federation notes are only known in the form of printer’s proofs.</p>
<p>Printer’s proofs are reasonably distinct from the issued notes they were intended to represent, so although many of them are extremely rare, they are the most affordable type of pre-Federation notes available to collectors.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Specimen Note</strong>:<img src="http://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/files/PREFED_SPECIMEN.jpg" alt="Pre Federation Specimen Banknote" title="Pre Federation Specimen Banknote" style="padding: 10px; float: right;" /></p>
<p>Specimen notes were intended to stand as evidence of the final version of a note to printing and bank staff before it entered circulation.</p>
<p>A specimen note has passed through each phase of the printing process (intaglio and simultan), and generally (but not always) has had serial numbers added to it.</p>
<p>Specimen notes are printed on paper (not card), and often (but not always) have the term “Specimen" either stamped onto or punched into them.</p>
<p>A note with the term “Specimen” stamped onto or punched into it is not necessarily a specimen note - it must have the above characteristics if it is to be correctly classed as a specimen note.</p>
<p>A specimen note will not have been signed by authorized bank staff.</p>
<p>As nearly all pre-Federation notes are rare and often expensive in issued form, specimen notes are often used to represent a particular bank, denomination or series in a collection.</p>
<p>A specimen note may also be used to represent a note as it would have been seen in circulation when all of the issued notes available are heavily circulated - faded; dirty; torn or perhaps even missing sections.</p>
<p>Some pre-Federation notes are only known in specimen form.</p>
<p>Specimen notes are the most attractive of all pre-Federation notes.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Issued Note: <img src="http://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/files/PREFED_ISSUED.jpg" alt="Pre Federation Issued Banknote" title="Pre Federation Issued Banknote" style="padding: 10px; float: right;" /></strong></p>
<p>An issued pre-Federation note that has been fully printed, has had serial numbers added to it, and has been signed into circulation by the bank’s authorized representatives.</p>
<p>Very few issued notes were printed in black ink only; very few issued notes were printed on one side only.</p>
<p>An issued note will not have the term “specimen” stamped onto or punched into it. </p>
<p>As notes issued into circulation during the pre-Federation period had a significant purchasing power, most circulated for an extended period of time.</p>
<p>Very few were either saved for posterity or lost - nearly all were spent or redeemed at the bank that issued them, and so most are found in heavily circulated condition.</p>
<p>Issued notes in superior quality are the most highly-prized of all pre-Federation notes. They are valued for their rarity; history and purchasing power.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Superscribed Note</strong>:<img src="http://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/files/SUPERSCRIBED_NOTE.jpg" alt="Australian Superscribed Banknote" title="Australian Superscribed Banknote" style="padding: 10px; float: right;" /></p>
<p>A superscribed note is an un-issued pre-Federation note that was printed for a private Australian bank, and has been officially overprinted either by the Queensland Colonial Government or the Australian Commonwealth Government.</p>
<p>As there is only one superscribed note from the Queensland Colonial Government in private hands, the term “superscribed note” is invariably used to describe those notes over-printed by the Australian Commonwealth Government.</p>
<p>The Australian Commonwealth superscribed notes feature the term "AUSTRALIAN NOTE” above authorizing text across the front, with serial numbers above and below, all in black ink.</p>
<p>These superscribed notes were intended only as a temporary measure until the Commonwealth’s own series of notes was designed, printed and issued into circulation.</p>
<p>Once their purpose had been served, superscribed notes were actively recalled and destroyed by the Commonwealth Treasury, so very few remain available to collectors today.</p>
<p>As the first notes printed for the Australian Commonwealth Government, superscribed notes are highly prized for their history, rarity and purchasing power.</p>
<p>Superscribed notes are not known in printer’s proof or specimen form in private hands.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Summary</strong></p>
<p>Determining whether a particular note is a printer’s proof; a specimen; an issued or a superscribed note is the first step in determining how it fits into the schema of Australia’s pre-Federation note series.</p>
<p>Subsequent identification tasks such as determining the series that a note is part of is made much easier once the note has been correctly classified into it’s form.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>1. Dowd; Kevin, "Free Banking In Australia", Taylor &amp; Francis, London, 1992.</p>
<p>2. Dowd; Kevin, "Free Banking In Australia", Taylor &amp; Francis, London, 1992.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-research field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Research:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/research/pre-federation-notes">Pre-Federation Notes</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-productid field-type-node-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Product ID:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/items/western-australian-bank-perth-1906-10-pounds-unissued-specimen-note-mvr-3c-uncirculated">Western Australian Bank (Perth) 1906 10 Pounds Unissued Specimen Note MVR# 3c Uncirculated</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/items/western-australian-bank-perth-1897-1-pound-issued-note-mvr-3c-good-ef">Western Australian Bank (Perth) 1897 1 Pound Issued Note MVR# 3c good EF</a></div></div></div>Fri, 20 Jul 2018 05:00:51 +0000andrew10948 at https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.auhttps://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/research/australias-pre-federation-banknotes-rich-and-complex-series#commentsThe Federal Bank of Australia - “The Most Famous And Most Notorious Of All Boom Institutions”https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/research/federal-bank-australia-%E2%80%9C-most-famous-and-most-notorious-all-boom-institutions%E2%80%9D
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p>The 2018 Banking Royal Commission has caused a great deal of debate within Australia's political parties and the general public over just how Australia's banking system should be designed to ensure the safety of the average bank depositor.</p>
<p>Those discussing the issues at hand will be interested to learn of the history of the Federal Bank of Australia in the late 1800's, and the failed attempt by the "Associated Banks of Victoria" to enforce effective separation in the Australian banking system.</p>
<p>The narrative of the Federal Bank of Australia mirrors the incredible wealth that was generated during the land boom seen in Melbourne in the late 1800’s. Unfortunately for the bank’s directors; investors and depositors, their demise also exemplified the crushing cost of the banking crisis of 1893 that followed. The Federal Bank of Australia has been described by one historian as being <em>“The most famous and most notorious of all boom institutions.”<sup> 1</sup></em></p>
<p><strong>Marvelous Melbourne’s Land Boom of the 1880’s - Unparalleled Wealth</strong></p>
<p>Melbourne witnessed an extraordinary boom in real estate prices throughout the 1880’s that was as strong and as intoxicating as the boom in cryptocurrencies seen across 2017. By 1889, the value of land in central Melbourne was as high as it was in London.<sup> 2</sup> The most successful entrepreneurs in the land boom era controlled a network of land banks, mortgage companies and building societies, all discreetly linked behind the scenes. </p>
<p><img src="https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/sites/default/files/lightspeed_storage/photos/P-32998_1.jpg" alt="" title="" width="" height="" border="0" style="float: right; width: 300px; padding: 10px;" /></p>
<p><strong>The Federal Bank of Australia - “The Most Famous And Most Notorious Of All Boom Institutions”</strong></p>
<p>The Federal Bank of Australia was established by a Scottish businessman and politician, James Munro. Munro was a printer by trade, and happened upon the idea for a career in banking when printing the regulations for a building society. Munro had seen first-hand the commercial success that building societies in his native Scotland had enjoyed, and was convinced that a public building society set up on a slightly different model would work well in Victoria. Shortly afterwards in 1865, Munro established the Victorian Permanent Building Society.<sup> 3</sup></p>
<p>Outside his commercial pursuits, Munro was deeply involved in the temperance movement in Victoria. That involvement led to him being elected in 1874 to the Victorian Legislative Assembly as the member for North Melbourne. In 1876, Munro built a grand family home named “Armadale House” at 117 Kooyong Road in the suburb now known as Armadale.</p>
<p><img src="/sites/default/files/external_images/d47fcf8b.jpg" alt="" title="" width="" height="" border="0" style="float: left; width: 300px; padding: 10px;" /></p>
<p>Throughout the 1880’s, Munro channeled his entrepreneurial drive towards his moral agenda by establishing several “coffee palaces” in central Melbourne. These grand establishments, with their incredible size and ornate architecture, might best be described today as hotels that did not serve alcohol. Most coffee palaces did not survive the depression that followed the boom, however the Grand Coffee Palace on Spring Street survives today as the Windsor Hotel.</p>
<p>The Federal Coffee Palace, was another of Munro’s establishments, with 370 guest rooms it ranked as one of the largest hotels in Australia. Designed in the French Renaissance style, the façade was embellished with statues, griffins and the goddess Venus in a chariot drawn by four sea-horses. The interior featured chess, billiard, reading, smoking, writing and sitting rooms, six “accident proof” lifts, gas lighting, electric service bells and an ice-making plant. </p>
<p><img src="/sites/default/files/external_images/b8ca072c.jpg" alt="" title="" width="" height="" border="0" style="float: right; width: 300px; padding: 10px;" /></p>
<p>In 1881, Munro parlayed his profile as a temperance leader and politician together with his commercial success with the Victorian Permanent Building Society and his coffee palaces into two much larger enterprises - The Federal Bank of Australia and the Federal Building Society.</p>
<p><strong>The Federal Bank of Australia and the Federal Building Society</strong></p>
<p>Munro assumed the role of Managing Director of the Bank, and appointed his son Alexander as the Secretary of the Building Society. Thousands of small depositors opened accounts on the strength of Munro’s standing in the community and their shared hopes for a prosperous future. Munro and his colleagues showed incredible foresight with their initial property purchases - they acquired undeveloped land in exactly those areas Melbourne’s new railway network was extended into. Land values rose strongly in the years that shortly followed - Munro’s nett worth was estimated to be £250,000 prior to the end of the boom. In the intervening years, the Federal Bank of Australia regularly paid strong dividends to investors. The boom in land values and shares in the companies developing it lasted as long as there was confidence in the future.</p>
<p>Once credit growth slowed and confidence stalled however, the boom quickly collapsed into an economic depression that economists state was far worse and lasted far longer<span style="font-size: 9px; line-height: normal;"><sup> 4</sup></span> than the Great Depression. <img src="https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/sites/default/files/lightspeed_storage/photos/P-32961_1.jpg" alt="Federal Bank of Australia £5 Specimen Note" title="Federal Bank of Australia £5 Specimen Note" style="width: 300px; padding: 10px; float: left;" />In 1887, Munro established yet another financial entity named “The Real Estate Bank” to ostensibly better manage his personal real estate affairs. </p>
<p><strong>A Network of Financial Institutions</strong></p>
<p>The Associated Banks of Victoria foresaw the potential for conflicts of interest when significant investors in the real estate boom controlled or were associated with multiple financial institutions, and so in 1889 passed a regulation excluding banks that had any ownership of a Building Society. Shortly after that regulation was passed, the Federal Bank of Australia sold the 130,000 shares it held in the Federal Building Society.</p>
<p>Munro had met the requirements on paper, however many remained concerned that was not matched in reality. Property prices in Victoria collapsed in 1889, this led to a spate of building society failures in 1890. Once it became clearer that the fall in property prices was not just temporary, the financial collapse spread to the land banks. As the number of failures and frauds grew over time, public confidence in <span style="text-decoration: underline;">all</span> financial institutions faltered, which spread the crisis to the institutions at the core of the financial system - the banks that issued their own notes.<sup> 5</sup></p>
<p>Munro became Premier of Victoria just as this financial maelstrom was unfolding, on November 5<sup>th</sup>, 1890. One regulatory bill passed during his tenure was the Voluntary Liquidation Act, assented on December 3<sup>rd</sup> 1891. This act was represented by the government as a measure to ensure the financial system remained stable during a period of turmoil.</p>
<p>Critics of the bill however suggested that its true purpose was instead to enable disreputable and badly managed businesses to avoid the full consequences of their actions. That theory was lent some weight when Munro’s Federal Building Society suspended payments to depositors the day after the bill was passed, the Real Estate Bank followed suit on December 15<sup>th</sup>.<span style="font-size: 9px; line-height: normal;"><sup> 6</sup></span> </p>
<p>Although the Federal Bank of Australia was a member of the respected Associated Banks of Victoria<sup> 7</sup>, it was regarded as being the “smallest and weakest” bank in that group. Many members of the general public remained so concerned with the links apparent between the Federal Bank and Munro’s other troubled entities that the bank lost a third of its Australian deposits<sup> 8</sup> in the 10 months prior to January 1893. <strong></strong></p>
<p><strong>The Final Phase - Suspension of Payments and Resignation as Premier<img src="https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/sites/default/files/lightspeed_storage/photos/P-32958_1.jpg" alt="Federal Bank of Australia £1 Specimen Note" title="Federal Bank of Australia £1 Specimen Note" style="width: 300px; padding: 10px; float: right;" /></strong></p>
<p>The final phase in the history of the Federal Bank of Australia began on January 30<sup>th</sup> 1893, when it was also forced to suspend payments to depositors. Munro stood down as Premier of Victoria on February 16<sup>th</sup>, the Real Estate Bank entered liquidation just 3 days later. Munro declared bankruptcy in February, his debts amounted to £97,000. That debt would have been far higher if the Federal Bank had not released him from his debt to them of £125,000 just four days before it closed. The extent of Munro’s related party dealings only became truly clear when the accounts of his various entities were audited in the months that followed. Auditors of the Real Estate Bank showed cash losses that totalled £1,027,000.</p>
<p>The solicitor George Godfrey led a number of investigations into the activities of boom companies, and alleged that £180,000 had been paid by the Real Estate Bank to Munro for several worthless properties. We can see that if those two related-party transactions had not been entered into, the true level of Munro’s personal debt would have amounted to £397,000 at the very least, excluding any other related-party transactions that may have taken place.</p>
<p>Allegations of more of the creative accounting practices that the Federal Bank’s directors and staff had entered into in order to keep the bank afloat came to light during the subsequent court case. Evidence was presented that showed Munro had lent himself, his family and friends close to a million pounds in public funds via the Federal Bank. </p>
<p>Munro’s villainous standing in the community after the collapse of his various financial institutions was captured in the events of April 17<sup>th</sup> 1893, when he was physically attacked by an aggrieved depositor of the Federal Bank on Collins Street, not altogether far from the bank’s headquarters at 307 Collins Street. </p>
<p>George Davis was described as “a tall and powerfully built builder’s labourer” who had lost his life’s savings with the collapse of the Federal Bank. Although several versions of the incident were recalled by victim, the defendant and the various witnesses that were called before the court, it was agreed that Davis attempted to speak with Munro on Collins Street, and was pushed away. Davis then knocked Munro out with a single punch to the head, and was restrained by several passers-by. The court found Davis guilty of assault, and fined him either £5 or a month in prison. </p>
<p>Davis was surprised to learn that the fine had been anonymously paid on his behalf before he had even left the courtroom - whether this was by a fellow disgruntled customer of the Federal Bank of Australia was the subject of some media discussion in the days that followed. The Land Boom that unfolded in Melbourne throughout the 1880’s and erupted into the Depression of 1893 was an episode of unparalleled wealth in Australian history. </p>
<p>James Munro was arguably the highest profile member of the Melbourne business community during the headiest days of the land boom, the Federal Bank of Australia rode the boom for all it was worth. Although Munro’s wealth didn’t survive the Depression intact, the Windsor Hotel on Spring Street; Armadale House on Kooyong Road and the notes of the Federal Bank of Australia are exclusive and lasting reminders of the heady days of “Marvelous Melbourne”.</p>
<p style="margin: 8px 0px 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Cochin;"><span style="font-size: 7px; line-height: normal;"><sup>1 </sup></span>Cannon; Michael, "The Land Boomers", Melbourne University Publishing, Melbourne, 1967, p .</p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Cochin;"><span style="font-size: 7px; line-height: normal;"><sup>2 </sup></span><a href="https://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/articles/2676">https://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/articles/2676</a></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Cochin;"><span style="font-size: 7px; line-height: normal;"><sup>3 </sup></span>Cannon; Michael, "The Land Boomers", Melbourne University Publishing, Melbourne, 1967, p .</p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Cochin;"><span style="font-size: 7px; line-height: normal;"><sup>4 </sup></span>Fisher and Kent; , "Two Depressions, One Banking Collapse" in the "System Stability Department, RBA", June 1999, p 3.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Cochin;"><span style="font-size: 7px; line-height: normal;"><sup>5 </sup></span>Bryan Fitz-Gibbon and Marianne Gizycki; , "A History Of Last-Resort Lending And Other Support For Troubled Financial Institutions In Australia" in the System Stability Department Reserve Bank of Australia, 2007-07, October 2001, p 22.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Cochin;"><span style="font-size: 7px; line-height: normal;"><sup>6 </sup></span><a href="https://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/items/1206559">https://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/items/1206559</a></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Cochin;"><span style="font-size: 7px; line-height: normal;"><sup>7 </sup></span>Bryan Fitz-Gibbon and Marianne Gizycki; , "A History Of Last-Resort Lending And Other Support For Troubled Financial Institutions In Australia" in the System Stability Department Reserve Bank of Australia, 2007-07, October 2001, p 24.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Cochin;"><span style="font-size: 7px; line-height: normal;"><sup>8 </sup></span>Bryan Fitz-Gibbon and Marianne Gizycki; , "A History Of Last-Resort Lending And Other Support For Troubled Financial Institutions In Australia" in the System Stability Department Reserve Bank of Australia, 2007-07, October 2001, p 24.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-research field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Research:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/research/pre-federation-notes">Pre-Federation Notes</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-productid field-type-node-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Product ID:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/items/federal-bank-australia-melbourne-ca-1889-10-pounds-unissued-specimen-note-mvr-1-uncirculated">Federal Bank of Australia (Melbourne) ca 1889 10 Pounds Unissued Specimen Note MVR# 1 Uncirculated</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/items/federal-bank-australia-melbourne-ca-1882-5-pounds-unissued-specimen-note-mvr-1-uncirculated">Federal Bank of Australia (Melbourne) ca 1882 5 Pounds Unissued Specimen Note MVR# 1 Uncirculated</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/items/federal-bank-australia-melbourne-ca-1882-1-pound-unissued-specimen-note-mvr-1-uncirculated">Federal Bank of Australia (Melbourne) ca 1882 1 Pound Unissued Specimen Note MVR# 1 Uncirculated</a></div></div></div>Wed, 30 May 2018 04:52:37 +0000andrew10622 at https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.auhttps://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/research/federal-bank-australia-%E2%80%9C-most-famous-and-most-notorious-all-boom-institutions%E2%80%9D#commentsThe Western Australian Bank (1841 - 1927) Underwritten by Parochialismhttps://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/research/western-australian-bank-1841-1927-underwritten-parochialism
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p>It is difficult to hold a banknote from the Western Australian Bank and not be taken back to the era it was issued in.</p>
<p>These large notes, with their intricate designs, calligraphed signatures and firm but undoubtedly fragile paper quality are objects of wealth unique to this part of the world, and evoke a long-distant era of formality and discipline. The Western Australian Bank merged with the Bank of New South Wales in 1927, and at it’s peak it was widely regarded as the most important commercial enterprise in Western Australia, one that <em>“…had done more to assist in the development of mining in this state than nearly the whole of the other financial institutions combined.<a id="fnref:1" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:1">[1]</a>”</em></p>
<p>The quality of a very small number of notes issued by the Western Australian Bank are regarded as among the finest Australian banknotes issued prior to Federation in any denomination, from any bank, in any part of Australia. They embody the drive to capture the abundant natural wealth in Australia’s western third, and are a reminder of a time when the leading financial institution in this part of our nation was founded, run and patronised by the people that lived and worked here.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/sites/default/files/lightspeed_storage/photos/P-32552_1.jpg" alt="Western Australian Bank Type 3c £1" title="Western Australian Bank Type 3c £1" style="max-width: 300px; padding: 10px; float: right;" /></p>
<p><strong>Underwritten by Parochialism </strong></p>
<p>The success of the Western Australian Bank was clearly underwritten by the parochialism for which many West Australians are renown, the causes of that parochialism commanded customer loyalty for many decades. Although it is hardly news that many residents of Australia’s most isolated state have long chosen to do business with their own over outsiders, the formative events that led to the dominance of the Western Australian Bank have not yet been widely discussed.</p>
<p><strong>1832 - The Agricultural Society Requests £5,000 </strong></p>
<p>The first indication that a financial institution might be beneficial to the Swan River Colony was in 1832, when the Agricultural Society formally submitted a prospectus to Governor James Stirling for <em>“an advance of £5,000 from the Treasury on the security of twenty-five responsible persons.”<a id="fnref:2" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:2">[2]</a></em> Stirling denied the request, and stated “that the colonists should raise the money by private subscription.”</p>
<p>This rebuff, a result of policies set by the colonial authority located in distant London is a very early example of a remote governing body not sharing the same level of urgency regarding the availability of capital with those Western Australians who were living with the consequences of it. No doubt at least some of the colonists vowed to never allow themselves to be in this situation regarding their own finances again.</p>
<p><strong>1833 - Colonial Secretary Peter Brown Issues £1 Notes </strong></p>
<p>One author has stated that the result of Stirling’s urge for self-sufficiency was that the “Swan River Society” was formed out of the Agricultural Society in 1833 - each member was allocated 50 £1 promissory notes, and agreed to accept them in lieu of cash.<a id="fnref:3" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:3">[3]</a></p>
<p>For a period of time, these promissory £1 notes of the Swan River Society are believed to have performed their role as a medium of exchange well. Surviving examples of these notes have no mention of the “Swan River Society” on them, however several contemporary newspaper reports suggest that the notes were issued personally by the Colonial Secretary, Peter Brown.<a id="fnref:4" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:4">[4]</a></p>
<p>Brown was accused by another colonist of misusing the funds received from these notes, so Brown sued for slander, and won. A notice advising that the £1 notes were being recalled was advertised in November 1836.</p>
<p><img src="/sites/default/files/external_images/d0042b62.jpg" alt="" title="" width="" height="" border="0" style="float: right;" /></p>
<p><strong>1835 - John Wood’s Counterfeit Rupees </strong></p>
<p>The popularity of the Swan River Society £1 notes apparently further eased once a number of Indian silver coins began to circulate throughout the colony. Within months however, it became apparent that these popular silver coins were in fact counterfeits, struck by a colonist (not a convict) who had bought up a large portion of the colony’s white metal, and had made them into crude rupees.<a id="fnref:5" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:5">[5]</a></p>
<p>The restrictions inherent in the Swan River Society notes, coupled with the threat to economic stability that the counterfeit rupees posed as well as a perceived disinterest on the part of the colonial authorities in London, both set the stage for the foundation of Western Australia’s first bank.</p>
<p><strong>1837 - Bank of Western Australia </strong></p>
<p>The Bank of Western Australia (1837 - 1841) was founded by George Leake, a leading merchant in the Swan River Colony of the time. The establishment of this bank was warmly welcomed in the colony’s newspaper: <em>“It has been our ambition, for some few years, to obtain assistance from abroad, and many efforts were made; but we were not sufficiently advanced to effect it. At length from our own resources, it is accomplished. We heartily congratulate our brother colonists upon this bright feature in the annals of our colonial history.<a id="fnref:6" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:6">[6]</a>” </em></p>
<p><em></em>The article in the Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal reflected that since 1835, the Swan River Colony had become self-sufficient in “nearly all the articles of immediate necessity”. It commented that although a surplus of funds had been steadily accumulating in the two years since, <em>“A large portion of these accumulations lie scattered and in a great degree, ineffective, in private hands. The operations of a well digested Banking System will consist in the collecting these scattered sums into one mass, and applying in, with concentrated force, to objects of private and public benefit. It will promote punctuality and confidence in our commercial transactions, domestic as well as foreign; at the same time that, by the circulation of the notes, and the assistance of its credits, it will give a more permanent standard of value to our possessions, in lands, houses, improvements, and every other description of property.<a id="fnref:7" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:7">[7]</a>”</em></p>
<p>The civic nature of the new bank was emphasised several times, that the bank was <em>“…founded on the broad basis of the whole community, the support which it claims is as universal as the benefits which it will bestow.<a id="fnref:8" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:8">[8]</a>”</em></p>
<p><em>“…this long-desired object has been attained; and it must be a subject of congratulation to every one to know that it springs, not from foreign capital ingrafted in our native stock, or from artificial and premature schemes, but, naturally, from the gradual advancement of the Colony in prosperity, and the accumulation of capital…”<a id="fnref:9" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:9">[9]</a></em></p>
<p><em>“Here we have recorded the establishment of one of the most important institutions connected with our future prospects, and we are happy to say it exhibits a striking and faithful picture of our rapid progress, inasmuch as we find our accumulating capital, distributed in different hands, employed to the advancement of the general body.<a id="fnref:10" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:10">[10]</a>” </em></p>
<p>Buoyed by these positive expectations, the Bank’s records show that it was able to obtain funds from local colonists, and was able to lend them out successfully. The Swan River Colony and the Bank prospered in the years that followed, however this convivial existence was interrupted when the Bank of Australasia (founded in London) announced it would open a branch. Following this news, Governor James Stirling arranged for a merger between the Bank of Australasia and the Bank of Western Australia.</p>
<p>As the Bank of Western Australia had been founded via a collective contribution of locally earned capital, for the benefit of the local community, the suggestion that foreign capital might be <em>“ingrafted in our native stock”</em> was not universally welcomed. Stirling asserted that the merger was to be <em>“of much importance to the colony… for by its means settlers were calculated to obtain cheaper money.”<a id="fnref:11" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:11">[11]</a></em></p>
<p>Shareholders subsequently voted in agreement with this merger by the reasonably close margin of 57 to 51, this decision that did not sit well with number of the colony’s leading figures.</p>
<p>Western Australia’s first bank had survived as a sovereign entity for just 4 years.</p>
<p><strong>1841 - Western Australian Bank </strong></p>
<p>Shortly after the merger of the Bank of Western Australia and the Bank of Australasia, George Frederick Stone led a number of the 51 former shareholders of the Bank of Western Australia that had voted against the merger chose to establish another bank, named the Western Australian Bank.</p>
<p>Stone and others are said to have been “disgusted” with the decision to merge the Bank of WA with the Bank of Australasia, his prospectus denigrated the Bank of Australasia, and he exhorted local support because the new bank was local, with all the implications this carried.</p>
<p>The prospectus also carried some sting with the statement that it would be backed <em>“by more influential and prosperous settlers…”<a id="fnref:12" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:12">[12]</a></em></p>
<p>The list of the people involved with the establishment of the Western Australian Bank does indeed include at least a good portion of <em>“…the leading business, professional and colonial government section of the community<a id="fnref:13" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:13">[13]</a>”</em>:</p>
<p>George Frederick Stone; William Tanner; Richard Hinds; Edward Hammersley; Samuel Moore; Thomas Richard Carey Walters and W.J. Lawrence.</p>
<p>Of the directors and staff linked with the Bank of Western Australia, only one is also linked with the Western Australian Bank - Richard Hinds. Richard Hinds (senior) was a naval surgeon that arrived arrived in the Swan River Colony in 1837 on the ‘Shepherd’ with his wife Susannah and children Sarah and Richard.<a id="fnref:14" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:14">[14]</a> This was the same ship that Edward Hammersley and his family arrived on. Hinds was the largest initial depositor at the Western Australian Bank. A number of the personalities associated with the establishment of the new bank also figure prominently in the government of Western Australia, showing that <em>“the development of the Bank and the colony are connected.<a id="fnref:15" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:15">[15]</a>”</em></p>
<p><strong>1845 - Bank of Australasia Closes its Western Australian Branch </strong></p>
<p>As soon as the Western Australian bank was established, it set about winning business from the Bank of Australasia by discounting its rates.</p>
<p>It received such strong support from local depositors that it forced the Bank of Australasia to shut down it’s branch in Western Australia after just 4 years of competition, indicating that the appeal of parochialism was a powerful one. At its worst, parochialism can be self-serving; short-sighted and unnecessarily conservative.</p>
<p>In contrast with Governor Stirling’s emphasis on the cost of money, the decision to establish the Western Australian Bank demonstrates that members of the Swan River Colony business community were more concerned about the local availability of money than they were with the cost at which that money might be borrowed - lending policies and the retention of surplus funds within the colony were more important to them than interest rates alone. The decision to support a local bank was intended to help ensure money remained available locally.</p>
<p><strong>1845 - 1868 The Monopoly Years </strong></p>
<p>The start of transportation of convicts to Western Australia in 1850 caused a fundamental shift in the Colony’s economic development.<a id="fnref:16" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:16">[16]</a> Estimates of economic activity in the Colony, the size of Western Australia’s economy in 1860 was four times that in 1850.<a id="fnref:17" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:17">[17]</a> With greater access to capital, the pearling and timber industries began to develop<a id="fnref:18" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:18">[18]</a>, while public expenditure on works, buildings and roads also increased. The assets of the Western Australian Bank slowly but surely grew during this period.</p>
<p>The National Bank of Australasia opened a branch in Perth in 1868 - its profitability and the optimism of it’s staff contrast greatly with that of the Western Australian Bank. <em>"The NBA sent its manager at Robe Town (South Australia) with £10,000 in coin, and instructions to compete fairly with the local bank, Law sailed around the barren coast to a colony that had no telegraph, no railway, and no feature of the industrial age of iron, except the leg-iron.<a id="fnref:19" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:19">[19]</a>”</em></p>
<p><em>“The only surviving convict colony, perhaps half of Western Australia’s 20,000 people were convicts or ex-convicts in a gaol as large as India. Trade was sluggish, exports of wool and sandalwood were meagre, and the colony had only one bank, the local Western Australian Bank, which had opened in 1841 when Perth was a village. For the last twenty years the small bank had enjoyed a monopoly, simply because no bank thought the colony was worth entering.<a id="fnref:20" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:20">[20]</a>” </em></p>
<p>Writing on the position of the National Bank of Australasia in 1871, the historian Geoffrey Blainey had to say this about the level of economic activity in Western Australia: <em>“Western Australia was backward, and the new notes printed by the bank made this clear. The Victorian bank notes, in an ornate cameo, showed the face and shoulders of a contemporary damsel, clasping a long-tailed lamb. The South Australian notes depicted a coy girl with grapes in her long hair and a sheaf of wheat on her shoulder. The Western Australian notes showed a buxom girl, her chubby arms resting on the head of an axe, the symbol of a colony whose forests and deserts were imperfectly explored and whose commerce was more a venture in national development than in profitable banking.<a id="fnref:21" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:21">[21]</a>”</em></p>
<p>If Blainey’s searing indictment of Western Australia as a place of commerce can be taken as an indication of external attitudes towards business in Western Australia, it is hardly surprising that some Western Australians might choose to do business with a local bank. In stark contrast, archival records of the Western Australian Bank show it was able to pay consistent dividends to its shareholders of 17.5% to 20% throughout its lifetime, regardless of whether economic conditions were favourable or unfavourable. Bonuses of £1 per £10 share were regularly given throughout the 1860’s and 1870’s, the bonus paid to shareholders in 1876 alone was £5 per £10 share<a id="fnref:22" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:22">[22]</a> - just 5 years after the period that Blainey was commenting on.</p>
<p><strong>1878 - 1890 Increased Competition and the Discovery of Gold </strong></p>
<p>As the economy of colonial Western Australia expanded between the 1860’s and the 1880’s, a number of banks based either in London or the Eastern seaboard established branches in Perth.</p>
<p>The Union Bank of Australia opened a branch in Perth in 1878; the Bank of New South Wales opened a branch in 1883; the Commercial Bank of Australia opened a branch in 1888.</p>
<p>Despite this increased competition, the Western Australian Bank continued to pay strong dividends to shareholders, although arguably at the expense of market share. The loans made during the period 1861 to 1890 were mainly to pastoral concerns, road boards, municipalities, churches and societies<a id="fnref:23" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:23">[23]</a> - by following that strategy, the Western Australian Bank remained tightly bound to the leading families in the colony. Edward Wittenoom received an overdraft for £3,000 for the leasing of White Peaks, and other such well-known pastoralists as the Padburys, Shentons, Lefroys, all received substantial aid for the development of the North—West properties, and for their businesses.</p>
<p><img src="/sites/default/files/external_images/9ef29cee.jpg" alt="" title="" width="200px" height="" border="0" style="float: right;" /></p>
<p>The discovery of gold in Halls Creek in the Kimberley region in 1886 was fundamental in shaping the economic and social landscape of the colony. News of the discovery travelled internationally and brought an unprecedented rush of immigrants and a level of economic growth previously unknown in the State.</p>
<p>Between 1890 and 1900, Western Australia’s population grew from 48,502 to 179,967.<a id="fnref:24" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:24">[24]</a> Although the Halls Creek gold rush was short-lived, many prospectors stayed in Western Australia and explored other regions, culminating in the discovery of gold at Mt Charlotte near Kalgoorlie in 1893.</p>
<p>The story of the opening of the Coolgardie branch of the Western Australian Bank, as recounted in “Westralian Banker" in September 1950, places a human face on the Western Australian Bank’s expansion during this period. <em>“Mr Steuart was appointed manager and Mr. Sherwood the teller and accountant, the two set off for the goldfields with two outsized bullion boxes containing £10,000 in assorted notes and mixed coin, without any armed escort, and only carrying between them a six shooter to protect themselves and the money. </em></p>
<p><em>They went by rail to Northam, and by construction train to Burracoppin. </em></p>
<p><em>From there they travelled to Southern Cross by Cobb and Co. coach, it having taken them three days to travel 120 miles. </em></p>
<p><em>They slept in the open with the bullion boxes as a pillow. It took them six days to reach Coolgardie, to find that no bank was made and that there was nowhere to place the bullion. </em></p>
<p><em>Their average working hours per week were sixty to seventy hours, and they had to do this for no payment for overtime. </em></p>
<p><em>For eighteen months they all slept in the premises provided, with hessian and rough sawn timber camps, each accommodating two members- extra supplies later included camp stretchers, a wash stand, a basin and ewer, plus one gallon of water daily, which had to serve for drinking, washing and cooking. </em></p>
<p><em>Showers cost 1/6 each, and all that it consisted of was a water can being upturned over a person, the water being collected in a trough below and used again for the next customer.<a id="fnref:25" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:25">[25]</a>”</em></p>
<p>To fully appreciate the level of trust placed in bank staff in this era, as well as the risks and sacrifices that they undertook, we need to remember that a week’s wages for the average worker at this time was slightly more than £2 per week, meaning that the amount of gold these men were responsible for could well equate to the total sum of money they would ever earn in their lifetimes. They needed to account for it down to the last penny, and protect it with just a single pistol between them. Given the sums of money involved, it is remarkable that more violent robberies didn’t take place.</p>
<p><strong>1890 - 1910 The Banking Crisis and the Discovery of Gold </strong></p>
<p>The discovery of gold in Western Australia occurred at around the same time a series of banking, currency and sovereign debt crises were unfolding around the world.</p>
<p>Following decades of strong economic growth, the Argentinean government defaulted on its sovereign debt in 1890, which caused what is now known as the Barings Crisis.</p>
<p>The British investment bank Barings was heavily exposed to Argentinean debt, and was only saved by the intervention of several other major investment banks in London, as well as the Bank of England.</p>
<p>The consequences of this crisis were felt right around the world, not least in Australia.</p>
<p>A strong boom in land values had been underway in Melbourne for some years by the 1890’s, under-pinned by loans made by the Australian banks, who had in turn borrowed cheap funds from British banks.</p>
<p>Following the Barings Crisis, those same British banks withdrew funds from Australia, which exposed many Australian banks to the lack of liquidity in their property loans.</p>
<p>By the time the 1893 banking crisis in Australia drew to a close, 11 banks across NSW, Queensland and Victoria had suspended operations and restructured.</p>
<p>This suspension had significant consequences for the lending policies of those banks in the years that followed. The Western Australian Bank’s business was entirely based in WA, so it was not exposed to losses on property caught up in the Victorian Land Boom. It was one of the very few banks in Australia that did not suspend during the 1893 financial crisis. One historian has stated that <em>“One of the greatest factors in the growth in importance and in the regaining of the position of leading bank in the colony for the Western Australian Bank, was the occurrence of the Eastern banking disaster at a time when the colony of Western Australia was embarking on an era of growth and prosperity through the discovery of gold.<a id="fnref:26" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:26">[26]</a>”</em></p>
<p>By 1903, the Western Australian Bank was represented by branches in the following locations:</p>
<p>Albany, Beverley, Black Arrow (Nunngarra), Boulder, Bridgetown, Cuballing, Broad Arrow, Bulong, Bunbury, Burthville, Busselton, Coolgardie, Cue, Day Dawn, Dongarra, Duketown, Esperance, Fremantle, Geraldton, Greenbushes, Guildford, Kalgoorlie, Kanowna, Katanning, Kooynie, Laverton, Lennonville, Leonora, Meekatharra, Mt. Morgan, Nannine, Narrogin, Newcastle, Norseman, Northman, Pingelly, Ravensthorpe, Southern Cross, Wagin, York and Gundamindera (The Granites).</p>
<p><img src="/sites/default/files/external_images/17d89986.jpg" alt="" title="" width="" height="" border="0" style="float: right;" /></p>
<p>One comment in the local press in this period captures the regard that many in the state had for the Western Australian Bank: <em>“So far, nothing has contributed more to the Western Australian gold boom than the solid notes of the Western Australian Bank, and nothing will better support the gold boom in the future than those notes, which at any time may be paid in coin across the counter ten times over. The Western Australian Bank is indeed a model bank.<a id="fnref:27" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:27">[27]</a>”</em></p>
<p>Gold yields had declined by the early 1900s, and agriculture overtook gold as the primary driver of economic growth. Historians have also recorded that during this period, the Western Australian Bank focused on lending money to pastoral and mercantile establishments that had sure security to offer, and made no attempt to assist small farmers become established.</p>
<p>Perhaps not without coincidence, the Forrest Government established the Agricultural Bank in 1895, which made loans to farmers up to £400 each. The Western Australian Bank became largely a trading bank for the large pastoral and mercantile concerns - they did business with the local aristocracy of the colony, the old established families of the state.<a id="fnref:28" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:28">[28]</a></p>
<p><strong>1927 - Amalgamation with the Bank of New South Wales</strong></p>
<p>Amalgamation in the Australian banking industry had been taking place since the 1890’s, larger banks were better equipped to deal with the lack of liquidity inherent in long-term loans, and did not have their risk geographically concentrated.</p>
<p>The notion of the Western Australian Bank becoming part of a larger organisation was first raised in 1914, following a severe drought in Western Australia that impacted a number of agricultural loans.</p>
<p>A further decline in the pastoral industry in 1919 saw the idea of amalgamation raised again, however this was not pursued.</p>
<p>The Bank of New South Wales made it’s first “tentative and informal approach” to acquire the bank in 1924, the first formal offer was made in January 1927.</p>
<p>An article in the Argus newspaper in Melbourne announced on January 28th 1927 that the Western Australian Bank had been absorbed by the Bank of New South Wales for a sum of £1,900,000.</p>
<p>At that time, the WA bank had 84 branches and sub-branches in Western Australia. Amalgamation with the Bank of New South Wales was complete by March 29th, 1927, which brought to an end a local institution <em>“that had so long identified with the life and fortunes of this state.<a id="fnref:29" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:29">[29]</a>”</em></p>
<p>Historians have stated that even though the public was not notified of the merger until February 1927, <em>“…little public concern was shown at the time of the amalgamation.<a id="fnref:30" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:30">[30]</a>”</em></p>
<p>The primary benefit of amalgamating with a bank that had national scope was that <em>“…it should theoretically bring extra available capital to the state.<a id="fnref:31" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:31">[31]</a>” </em></p>
<p><em></em>In the decades since 1841, Western Australia had become far less isolated from the commercial centres of Australia’s Eastern seaboard than it had been, meaning that simply being parochial was not as pragmatic as it once was. <em>“To new immigrants, the Bank was just a bank and no patriotism could be felt for it. It certainly had done little to aid these new settlers in their attempt to farm the Eastern Wheatbelt areas, and probably they thought the Bank to be concerned only with the large pastoralists and business houses.<a id="fnref:32" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:32">[32]</a>”</em></p>
<p><em></em> Although several emotive pleas were published in the WA press arguing against the merger, the bank’s management did not make any public comment on the proposal prior to the vote being put to shareholders.</p>
<p>After the decision had been made, an article in the West Australian newspaper stated <em>“There was the feeling that the volume of deposits requisite to enable it to cover the vast field open to it in the matter of sound advances for developmental purposes were insufficient to the local bank. Western Australia is young industrially, and has no considerable capital accumulation, and the rapid expansion of agricultural and pastoral industries and commerce has created opportunities for the profitable utilisation of capital which can not be met unless a considerable portion of that capital is drawn from resources without the state.<a id="fnref:33" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:33">[33]</a>"</em></p>
<p><em>“…a bank which although it figured prominently in Western Australia up to its amalgamation with the Bank of New South Wales in 1927, has completely vanished from the local scene. With it has gone many memories of its valiant efforts to help the growth of the colony with financial aid to such industries as timber, pearling, fruit and gold in their early development.<a id="fnref:34" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:34">[34]</a>”</em></p>
<p>A number of buildings built in the early 1900’s that housed branches of the Western Australian Bank remain standing to this day, and have been preserved for their heritage value. Far fewer notes of the Western Australian Bank are available to collector - these large notes, with their intricate designs, calligraphed signatures and firm but undoubtedly fragile paper quality are objects of wealth unique to this part of the world, and evoke a long-distant era of formality and discipline.<img src="https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/sites/default/files/lightspeed_storage/photos/P-29627_1.jpg" alt="Western Australian Bank Type I Banknote" title="Western Australian Bank Type I Banknote" style="max-width: 300px; float: right;" /></p>
<p><strong>The Banknotes of the Western Australian Bank</strong></p>
<p><strong>Type One (24/6/1841 - 24/2/1844)</strong></p>
<p>The first series of notes issued by the Bank of WA were printed in black ink on the front only, by a printer in the Swan River Colony itself. They measure 183 * 102mm, the paper stock was extremely light, even when compared to other notes from the pre-federation period. 4,000 of these notes had been issued by January 1844.</p>
<p>A small batch of several hundred unissued examples of these notes were discovered in the early 1980’s, and were marketed by the coin dealers Downies. These unissued £1 notes were presented in a coloured cardboard album that contained a range of background information on the bank and the note, and was decorated by a number of contemporary watercolours of the Swan River Colony.</p>
<p>Downies’ marketing literature for the notes stated that “From records, it is possible that up to 650 of these notes exist in original and uncancelled condition. However, experts believe the number surviving may well be as little as half of that number.[1]”</p>
<p> <strong>Type Two (24/2/1844 - 1/11/1860)</strong></p>
<p>Mick Vort-Ronald writes that <em>“At the WA Bank’s half-yearly meeting of January 10th, 1844, the Bank’s directors announced that “A supply of new Notes, of a more durable character and from an engraved plate, is also daily expected, to supersede the neat but temporary note in type, which has hitherto been in circulation.” These “Type Two” notes were engraved outside WA, and featured an oval containing a swan on the front at top centre, the title of the bank and “Established 1841”. The name of the bank is in the top and bottom borders, “Perth” is in the side borders. The back of these notes were also blank.[2]”</em> No notes of this type have ever been sighted, either in a public collection or in private hands.<br /><strong><img src="https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/files/WABANK_TYPE2.jpg" alt="Western Australian Bank £1 Note Type 3b" title="Western Australian Bank £1 Note Type 3b" style="max-width: 300px; padding: 10px; float: right;" /></strong></p>
<p><strong>Type Three A (1/1/1861 - 1866)</strong></p>
<p>Mick Vort-Ronald’s research on these notes indicates that they have the following specifications: <em>“Large swan at top centre on the front, surrounded by ornamental leaf design. "White line" straight border, with title of bank in top border, and "Perth" in bottom border. Denomination in a medallion either side of the swan. Front printed in black only. Serial numbers A 1 to A 20000.[3]”</em> No notes of this type have ever been sighted, either in a public collection or in private hands.<strong> </strong></p>
<p> <strong>Type Three B (1866 - 1/7/1878)</strong></p>
<p>These notes measure 190 * 113mm, and have the same basic design as Type 3A. They also feature “WAB” in large coloured letters in the centre of the front of the note, and are known to have been engraved by Charles Skipper &amp; East, London. Just one issued note of this type has been sighted so far in private hands.</p>
<p> <strong>Type Three C (1/1/1879 - 1909)</strong></p>
<p><img src="https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/sites/default/files/lightspeed_storage/photos/P-32552_1.jpg" alt="Western Australian Bank Type 3c £1" title="Western Australian Bank Type 3c £1" style="max-width: 300px; padding: 10px; float: left;" />These notes measure 185 * 114mm, the designs are largely the same as Type 3B, they were printed by Bradbury Wilkinson &amp; Co. in London. The large “WAB” in the middle of the front of the note has been replaced by the denomination in large sans-serif letters in blue ink. The designs on the back of the note are in blue - it features the denomination figure in the centre, surrounded by geometric "white line" design. The serial number range for these notes is from B 00001 through to D 725000, they were last issued in 1909.</p>
<p>It is believed that at least 3 or 4 of these notes (this note among them) were originally held in the archives of the Western Australian Bank, and were retained after the Commonwealth Government assumed authority over Australia’s note issue in 1910.</p>
<p>The Western Australian Bank amalgamated with the Bank of New South Wales in 1927, and the archives of the Western Australian Bank were transferred to the archives of the Bank of New South Wales in the years that followed.</p>
<p>Today, the Westpac Museum is located at Playfair Street in the Rocks, it houses a display that <em>“traces the history of banking from as early as Australia's colonisation in 1788, to current day banking and finance trends.[4]”</em></p>
<p>The Westpac Museum was established at the current site in the mid 1980’s, and it is understood that a number of items were divested from the Bank’s archives in order to fund acquisitions of other items required to present a comprehensive display of banking history.</p>
<p>Not only do these notes from the Western Australian Bank remain in incredible quality relative to nearly all the other Australian banknotes issued prior to 1910, they have an impeccable provenance.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<div class="footnotes">
<hr /><p>1. Greenhill; C, "The Western Australian Bank, 1841-1927 : an historico-economic research of Western Australia's only private local banking institution" in the University of Western Australia Thesis, 1959, p102 p <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:1"> ↩</a></p>
<p>2. Greenhill p12 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:2"> ↩</a></p>
<p>3. Greenhill p12 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:3"> ↩</a></p>
<p>4. <a href="http://www.wanowandthen.com/Peter-Brown.html">http://www.wanowandthen.com/Peter-Brown.html</a> <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:4"> ↩</a></p>
<p>5. Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal (WA : 1833 - 1847), Saturday 28 November 1835, page 606 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:5"> ↩</a></p>
<p>6. Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal (WA : 1833 - 1847), Saturday 20 May 1837, page 904 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:6"> ↩</a></p>
<p>7. Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal (WA : 1833 - 1847), Saturday 20 May 1837, page 904 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:7"> ↩</a></p>
<p>8. Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal (WA : 1833 - 1847), Saturday 20 May 1837, page 904 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:8"> ↩</a></p>
<p>9. Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal (WA : 1833 - 1847), Saturday 20 May 1837, page 904 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:9"> ↩</a></p>
<p>10. Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal (WA : 1833 - 1847), Saturday 20 May 1837, page 904 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:10"> ↩</a></p>
<p>11. <a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/History_of_West_Australia/Chapter_13">https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/History_of_West_Australia/Chapter_13</a> <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:11"> ↩</a></p>
<p>12. Greenhill, p24 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:12"> ↩</a></p>
<p>13. Greenhill, p51 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:13"> ↩</a></p>
<p>14. <a href="https://www0.landgate.wa.gov.au/maps-and-imagery/wa-geographic-names/name-history/historical-suburb-names">https://www0.landgate.wa.gov.au/maps-and-imagery/wa-geographic-names/nam...</a> <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:14"> ↩</a></p>
<p>15. Greenhill, p1 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:15"> ↩</a></p>
<p>16. “An Economic History Of Western Australia Since Colonial Settlement”, WA Department of Treasury and Finance, Perth, 2004, p 7. <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:16"> ↩</a></p>
<p>17. “An Economic History Of Western Australia Since Colonial Settlement”, WA Department of Treasury and Finance, Perth, 2004, p 8. <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:17"> ↩</a></p>
<p>18. “An Economic History Of Western Australia Since Colonial Settlement”, WA Department of Treasury and Finance, Perth, 2004, p 7 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:18"> ↩</a></p>
<p>19. Blainey &amp; Hutton; Geoffrey &amp; Geoffrey, “Gold and Paper (1858 - 1982)”, Macmillan, Melbourne, 1983, p 49. <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:19"> ↩</a></p>
<p>20. Blainey &amp; Hutton; Geoffrey &amp; Geoffrey, “Gold and Paper (1858 - 1982)”, Macmillan, Melbourne, 1983, p 49. <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:20"> ↩</a></p>
<p>21. Ibid, p50. <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:21"> ↩</a></p>
<p>22. Greenhill, p4 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:22"> ↩</a></p>
<p>23. Greenhill, p69 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:23"> ↩</a></p>
<p>24. ABS, 2004 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:24"> ↩</a></p>
<p>25. Westralian Banker, 1950 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:25"> ↩</a></p>
<p>26. Greenhill, p94 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:26"> ↩</a></p>
<p>27. Financial Post, 9/10/1895 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:27"> ↩</a></p>
<p>28. Greenhill, p102 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:28"> ↩</a></p>
<p>29. Greenhill, p3 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:29"> ↩</a></p>
<p>30. Greenhill, p4 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:30"> ↩</a></p>
<p>31. Greenhill, p130 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:31"> ↩</a></p>
<p>32. Greenhill, p137 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:32"> ↩</a></p>
<p>33. “Western Australian Newspaper”, February 21st 1927, p 6. <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:33"> ↩</a></p>
<p>34. Greenhill, p3 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:34"> ↩</a></p>
<p>[1] Australian Coin Review</p>
<p>[2] Vort-Ronald; Mick, "Banks of Issue in Australia", Self-Published, Adelaide, 1982, p 236.</p>
<p>[3] Vort-Ronald; Mick, "Banks of Issue in Australia", Self-Published, Adelaide, 1982, p 236.</p>
<p>[4] <a href="http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=5053229">http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.as...</a></p>
</div>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-research field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Research:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/research/pre-federation-notes">Pre-Federation Notes</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-productid field-type-node-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Product ID:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/items/western-australian-bank-perth-1897-1-pound-issued-note-mvr-3c-good-ef">Western Australian Bank (Perth) 1897 1 Pound Issued Note MVR# 3c good EF</a></div></div></div>Wed, 25 Oct 2017 09:12:48 +0000andrew9515 at https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.auhttps://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/research/western-australian-bank-1841-1927-underwritten-parochialism#commentsThe Bank of Australasia in Western Australiahttps://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/research/bank-australasia-western-australia
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p><strong>Banks of Western Australia</strong></p>
<p>West Australians are often rightly characterised as generally being a parochial bunch, this provincialism mean that in the days before the Commonwealth Government assumed control over the issue of Australia’s circulating currency notes in 1910, most West Australians preferred to bank with either the Bank of Western Australia or the Western Australian Bank.</p>
<p>Banks that had been founded outside the colony of WA found it difficult to establish a presence here, the Bank of Australasia prime among them.</p>
<p><strong>Strong Local Support</strong></p>
<p>The history of the Bank of Australasia in West Australia has two chapters - the first runs between 1841 and 1846, when a branch was established in Perth. Mick Vort Ronald's research indicated that there was "strong local support" for the Western Australian Bank at that time, and that the Perth branch of the Bank of Australasia was closed in 1846.</p>
<p>Several other banks entered the Western Australian market before 1910, these included the Bank of New South Wales, the National Bank of Australasia, the Union Bank of Australia, and for a very short period of time, the Commercial Bank of South Australia.</p>
<p><img class="media-image" height="354" style="float: right;" width="480" src="https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slwa_b2940905_14.jpg?itok=dmEERyrM" alt="" /></p>
<p><strong>The Discovery of Gold in Kalgoorlie in 1893 - A Truly National Bank</strong></p>
<p>The discovery of gold in Kalgoorlie in 1893 led many to believe there would be a gold rush in West Australia, bringing with it a surge of prosperity and an influx of British capital. The Bank of Australasia opened it's second branch in Perth in 1894, and quickly afterwards opened branches in Fremantle, Coolgardie and Cue also. Branches were opened in Menzies and Kalgoorlie in 1895.</p>
<p>The official history of the Bank of Australasia makes much of the fact it was one of the few Australian banks to survive the banking collapse of 1893, that it had protected it's depositors in a time when so many other banks had failed, <em>"...giving peace and security of mind alike to depositors, borrowers and shareholders."</em></p>
<p>While the executives and staff of the bank reflected on the historic anniversary with pride, that fond regard was not necessarily shared by many members of the Australian public.</p>
<p><strong>Stronger Ties to "The City of London” Than to Perth</strong></p>
<p>The Bank of Australasia was ultimately owned by a small number of private shareholders in London, and more than a few Australians felt that it placed profits for those shareholders before the best interests of their Australian customers.</p>
<p>A quick review of the structure and history of the Bank of Australasia makes the reasons for this latent antagonism clearer.</p>
<p>Although the name of the bank indicates it was an enterprise founded in Australia, it was in fact very strongly linked to England, specifically to London. The Bank of Australasia was incorporated by Royal Charter, it had mainly English directors and shareholders, their conduct was regulated by English law, and was under the control of the Bank of England. </p>
<p>All of the Bank's directors lived in London - nearly all of them were British born, and nearly all were Oxford educated. Many were the sons of wealthy and successful families, and had succeeded their father or an uncle in their role. Although some had served as Directors of the Bank of England, very few had actually ever visited Australia.</p>
<p>While the standing and connections of the bank's board members in the the vitally important commercial district of the City of London (specifically, the Corporation of the City of London) gave it a major commercial advantage over banks that had been founded in Australia when it came to raising capital, those same connections to London made it far more difficult in the court of public opinion.</p>
<p>The Bank of Australasia's own official history states that decision making at the bank was highly centralised - staff carried out each of their their duties in line with a comprehensive set of written procedures. All aspects of their work were closely supervised, discipline was strict.</p>
<p> The Bank of Australasia truly became a national bank when it opened the first branch in WA in 1894. It was a large, strong, well-connected and secure organisation, and although it was tightly controlled by a formidable bureacracy emanating from the other side of the world, it is not hard to see why a number of West Australians trusted it.</p>
<p>In 1951, the Bank of Australasia merged with the Union Bank of Australia to form the ANZ Bank, one of the "Big Four" banks remaining in operation in Australia today.</p>
<p>The activities of the Bank of Australasia in the time between its return to WA in 1894 and it being absorbed into the ANZ bank have not been written published in an accessible format, if at all.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-research field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Research:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/research/pre-federation-notes">Pre-Federation Notes</a></div></div></div>Wed, 06 Jan 2016 06:42:24 +0000andrew6410 at https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.auhttps://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/research/bank-australasia-western-australia#commentsThe Unissued One Pound Trader’s Note by Scott & Galehttps://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/research/unissued-one-pound-trader%E2%80%99s-note-scott-gale
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p><strong>One-Pound Shinplasters</strong></p>
<p><strong></strong>One-pound shinplasters were printed for the proprietors of a general store in Champion Bay (Geraldton) between 1858 and 1874, recent research has confirmed that while a signed, dated and issued note has not yet </p>
<p> </p>
<p>been sighted, they were definitely valued as a store of value and a medium of exchange in West Australia at that time.</p>
<p>A small number of attractive unissued examples of this note still exist - they remain a direct link to one of the Swan River Colony’s most important men.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/sites/default/files/lightspeed_storage/photos//P-30555_1.jpg" alt="The Unissued One Pound Trader’s Note by Scott &amp; Gale" title="The Unissued One Pound Trader’s Note by Scott &amp; Gale" width="500" height="291" style="float: right;" /></p>
<div>
<p>Merchants such as Scott &amp; Gale were among the first commercial enterprises established in the most remote areas of WA, they were entrepreneurs resolved to profit from the traffic of hardy prospectors and farmers flowing throughout the colony.</p>
<p>While the population of WA’s outlying areas was by comparison tiny and incredibly widely spread, these hardy people did business in just the same way as those in the main population centres - through the exchange of goods and services for money.</p>
<p>Notes such as the shinplasters issued by Scott &amp; Gale were essential to local trade in the early days of commerce in remote West Australia. The specie (coinage) available in remote areas was often limited to that which was brought in by arriving prospectors, once those coins had been traded or had left the area for another commercial centre, there was no other coinage for the settlers to use in their everyday business.</p>
<p>The major banks did not open branches in some areas of regional Western Australia until settlers had been there for some decades (if at all), shinplasters such as this one issued by Scott &amp; Gale provided a much needed medium of exchange.</p>
<p>An editorial in <em>“The Inquirer and Commercial News”</em> in March 1866 that discussed this, lamented <em>“… the want of specie in the Champion Bay district…”</em> and called <em>“…upon His Excellency the Governor to rectify this evil, in whole or part by causing at least the police and pensioners to be paid in hard cash.”</em> <a id="fnref:1" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:1">[1]</a> A subsequent letter to the editor criticised <em>“parties engaged in business transactions”</em> for carrying on their <em>“…most profitable course of issuing their pound notes and carrying on the truck-system.”</em></p>
<p><strong>The Economic Foundations of the Swan River Colony</strong></p>
<p>The establishment of a Colony at the Swan River in 1829 was largely in response to enthusiastic marketing by Captain James Stirling of opportunities for business and profits. It was also the first British Colony in Australia founded exclusively for private settlement based upon a land grant system. Despite an original perception of opportunity, Western Australia grew very slowly during its first years.</p>
<p>Agriculture and livestock were the colony’s first viable industries. The economy grew and diversified from around 1837 - research lists the most important commodities exported from the Swan River Colony between 1845 and 1850 as being wool, sandalwood, whale products, livestock and timber. It is interesting to note that Captain Daniel Scott had a number of business enterprises that were active in nearly every single one of those industries.</p>
<p>The first convicts to reach the shores of WA arrived in 1850, this increased demand for a wide range of goods and services.<a id="fnref:2" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:2">[2]</a></p>
<p><strong>Captain Daniel Scott - A Dynamic Entrepreneur</strong></p>
<p><img src="https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/files/captdanielscott.jpg" alt="Captain Daniel Scott" title="Captain Daniel Scott" width="300" style="float: left;" />Captain Daniel Scott was born at Liverpool (England) in 1800, although the exact date of his birth is uncertain. Scott ran away from home to work on the sea<a id="fnref:3" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:3">[3]</a>, in his early maritime career he captained a small ship in the West Indies.<a id="fnref:4" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:4">[4]</a> On one voyage during this period, Scott was commended by the Royal Humane Society<a id="fnref:5" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:5">[5]</a> for rescuing three men that were adrift in an open boat.</p>
<p>Scott arrived in Fremantle on August 5th 1829 on board the ’Calista’<a id="fnref:6" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:6">[6]</a>, the second ship that delivered settlers to the Swan River Colony. This was just 3 months after Captain Fremantle took formal possession of the whole of the west coast (of what was then known as New Holland) on behalf of the British monarch.</p>
<p>Shortly following his arrival, Scott was employed by the colonial government as the Deputy Harbour Master of Fremantle Port, at a salary of a hundred pounds a year. Daniel Scott married Francis Harriet Davis on March 18th 1830, and had 12 children (8 daughters and 3 sons) with her: Julia; Mary Ann; Emma; Louisa Jane; Sophia ; Daniel Henry; Jane Frances; Caroline Elizabeth; Katherine; Walter and John Campbell. Interestingly, Scott obtained a special licence to marry Frances Harriet Davis in his office on the wreck of the Marquis of Anglesea, located just off the shore at Fremantle.<a id="fnref:7" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:7">[7]</a></p>
<p>Most of Scott’s harbour master work would have been carried out on the “South Jetty”, where all inbound ships visiting the Swan River Colony stopped before the “Long Jetty” was built in 1873, and well before Fremantle Harbour was opened in 1897.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Fremantle's South Jetty - <em>"</em></strong><em><strong>Any man who would come or send a ship a second time is a damned ass"</strong></em></p>
<p>This simple wooden jetty extended from the shore now known as Bather’s Beach (or close to it), directly into the ocean. Constantly exposed to strong breezes and swells rolling in from the South West, Scott’s “Long Jetty” would have ben no workplace for the faint-hearted. Later descriptions of landing at Fremantle before the harbour was built are less than complimentary - one Captain D.B. Shaw described Fremantle as <em>“… a terrible place. No place to put a vessel. No shelter whatever. All the ships have to lay and discharge at the wharf or pay lighterage…. It is blowing a gale from the SW …. She had done considerable damage to herself…. It is certainly the worst place I or anyone else ever saw. No place to send a ship of this size…. Any man who would come or send a ship a second time is a damned ass.<a id="fnref:8" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:8">[8]</a>”</em></p>
<p>Scott was promoted to the position of Harbour Master on July 1st 1831, when the Swan Rover Colony’s original Harbour Master became the Swan River Colony’s first Auditor.<a id="fnref:9" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:9">[9]</a> After a serious injury to his arm, Scott had difficulty performing his pilot duties, and was forced to resign from his position as Harbour Master in February 1851.<a id="fnref:10" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:10">[10]</a> Scott was given a grant of 4,000 acres on the Swan River by the British government in lieu of any pay or pension owing.<a id="fnref:11" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:11">[11]</a></p>
<p><strong>The Swan River Colony’s First Postmaster</strong></p>
<p>Brian Pope’s work on the philatelic history of colonial Western Australia states that Captain Scott was appointed as the first postmaster of the Swan River Colony by Colonial Secretary Nicholas Brown on December 4th, 1829.<a id="fnref:12" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:12">[12]<img src="https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/files/captain_daniel_scott_postmaster_plaque.jpg" alt="Captain Daniel Scott - WA's First Postmaster" title="Captain Daniel Scott - WA's First Postmaster" width="300" height="199" style="float: right;" /></a></p>
<p>Scott was the also inaugural Chairman of the Fremantle Town Trust between 1848 and 1851.<a id="fnref:13" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:13">[13]</a> The Fremantle Town Trust was the entity that preceded the City of Fremantle, Scott’s position was equivalent to being the Mayor of Fremantle. Scott held that position twice subsequently, between 1853 and 1854, and also between 1856 and 1858. Scott acted as a Justice of the Peace from 1855, and from 1861 was a member of the Fremantle board of Education.<a id="fnref:14" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:14">[14]</a></p>
<p>In 1839, Scott committed to act as guarantor of building the first church built in Fremantle.<a id="fnref:15" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:15">[15]</a> St John’s Anglican Church, was opened on August 4th 1843. The building stood for decades, however was demolished when a newer church was built in 1882. The outline of the original building can still be seen in the pavement of King’s Square, two stained glass windows from the original building are said to have been included in the present church.</p>
<p><strong>In Business On His Own Account</strong></p>
<p>While employed as the Harbourmaster, Captain Scott went into business for himself in a number of different ventures. He soon had a number of boats transporting goods from South Jetty - Governor Stirling was said to have been among his customers.</p>
<p>Scott soon began building boats as well as running them - the first “large” vessel he built was named the Lady Stirling, it was launched with much fanfare at King George Sound in Albany in May 1836.</p>
<p>On February 25th 1837<a id="fnref:16" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:16">[16]</a>, Scott was one of the founding investors in the Fremantle Whaling Company - his investment is described as being “substantial”. This business established a whaling station at the entrance to Fremantle Harbour, and eventually paid for a tunnel to be dug under the Round House prison.</p>
<p>Whale products were the largest export commodity in the colony at that time - the £2,860 in whale products that were exported in 1837 was worth more than the total value of all products exported out of the Swan Rover Colony in 1836 of £2,700.<a id="fnref:17" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:17">[17]</a> The returns from whaling rose again during 1838 and 1839, however dropped away markedly in 1840 following changes in the international market for these products.</p>
<p>It was a dangerous and exciting business to be in - seven young men died in the first season of whaling alone<a id="fnref:18" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:18">[18]</a>. Life in the Swan River Colony in it’s early days is described as being difficult, often disappointing and even dull. As a result, the spectacle of whale hunting immediately became “a favourite entertainment.<a id="fnref:19" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:19">[19]</a>”</p>
<p>In 1842, Scott’s involvement in whaling went so far that he personally captained one of the whaling vessels that he owned - the Napoleon. Lacking capital and the specialised skills required, and facing very strong competition from far more experienced and better-equipped British and American whalers skirting Australia’s west coast, the Fremantle Whaling Company was eventually wound up in 1850.</p>
<p>The first convicts that landed in the Swan River Colony were housed temporarily in several buildings leased from Scott, these were on land where the Esplanade Hotel is today.<a id="fnref:20" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:20">[20]</a></p>
<p>Forty eight different lead and copper mines operated in the Ajana district<a id="fnref:21" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:21">[21]</a> of West Australia between 1848 and 1878, it was clearly the focus of a great deal of entrepreneurial energy and speculation.</p>
<p>The Geraldine lead mine was the first viable commercial mining operation in Western Australia, and was located 500 kilometres north of Perth on the Murchison River. Scott was listed as a director of the Geraldine Mining Company in January 1850, along with Shenton, Lefroy, Marmion, and other prominent members of the Swan River business community.<a id="fnref:22" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:22">[22]</a> The prospect of a commercial mine in the colony was one that Governor Fitzgerald was keenly interested in, the Murchison region was seen as possibly being the next major area of expansion for the colony.<a id="fnref:23" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:23">[23]</a></p>
<p>A newspaper notice in 1859 announced the formation of the “Wheal Fortune Mining Company”.<a id="fnref:24" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:24">[24]</a> Daniel Scott is listed as a member of the “Provisional Committee”, a further notice in 1862 appears to indicate that it was wound up in December of that year.<a id="fnref:25" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:25">[25]</a> A notice from April 1862 indicates that the mine was exporting copper rather than lead. Scott is also said to have formed the “Geraldton Smelting and Mining Company” at some stage, this was apparently intended to mine for lead in the Geraldton region. This was apparently a short-lived venture however, one that lapsed after Scott’s death in 1865.<a id="fnref:26" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:26">[26]</a></p>
<p><strong>Scott’s Relocation to Geraldton</strong></p>
<p>Scott relocated from Fremantle to Geraldton at some stage during 1858, with the express purpose of establishing a general store in partnership with his son in law, William Gale. The business was known as Messrs Scott &amp; Gale, the premises were located on Lot 52, Gregory Street in Geraldton.<a id="fnref:27" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:27">[27]</a> This is the location of the Geraldton Hotel.<img src="https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/files/gerohotel.jpg" alt="The Geraldton Hotel" title="The Geraldton Hotel" width="300" style="float: left;" /></p>
<p>Their initial advertisements stated:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 90px;"><em>“SCOTT &amp; GALE beg to inform the public that they have opened a GENERAL STORE in Geraldton, Champion Bay, and trust by strict attention to the wants of those who shall favour them with their orders, to merit a share of public support. Goods received, shipped and delivered, at moderate charges. Wool, corn and other colonial produce purchased. Information obtained respecting mineral and Agricultural lands, and forwarded on application. Geraldton, Champion Bay, August, 20.<a id="fnref:28" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:28">[28]</a>”</em></p>
<p>Even this early description of Scott &amp; Gale’s venture clearly shows it to be far more than just a local store that sold supplies and equipment to local farmers.</p>
<p><strong>The Legacy of Captain Daniel Scott</strong></p>
<p>Scott’s contribution to the Swan River Colony was commemorated with a plaque laid along St Georges Terrace in Perth during “WAY 79”, the official 1979 sesquicentennial (150th anniversary) celebration of the European colonisation of Western Australia. Scott’s plaque was dated 1850, the year that he made his Fremantle warehouse available to house the first convicts that arrived in West Australia. Scott’s grave is also featured in a historical walk trail in Fremantle cemetery.<a id="fnref:29" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:29">[29]<img src="https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/files/SCOTT_PLAQUE.jpg" alt="Captain Daniel Scott's Plaque " title="Captain Daniel Scott's Plaque " width="300" height="246" style="float: right;" /></a></p>
<p><strong>William Gale - Collector of Customs</strong></p>
<p>William Gale was born in 1829, one newspaper death notice states that he arrived in West Australia in 1850 from England<a id="fnref:30" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:30">[30]</a>. It is not yet known which port he departed from, or which vessel he arrived on.</p>
<p>In several of his death notices, as well as in biographical records for his sons, William Gale is described as being the “Collector of Customs” at Fremantle. A notice in the Perth Gazette on March 4th, 1853 announced that “Mr Agett, of Fremantle, having ceased to be clerk in the Custom department at that Port, His Excellency has appointed Mr. William Gale to the vacant situation.<a id="fnref:31" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:31">[31]</a>” Interpreting other newspaper and biographical notes that describe William Gale leads indicates that he worked in Customs at Fremantle until 1858.</p>
<p>Captain Daniel Scott was Harbour Master at Fremantle between 1831 and 1851, so this is most likely where the two men would have met.</p>
<p>Gale married Mary Ann Scott (second daughter of Captain Daniel and Frances Harriet Scott) on January 18th, 1854. Records seem to indicate they had five sons together: William Hebbon, Frank Ernest, Charles Frederic, Walter Augustus and John Scott Gale. John Scott, named as the 5th son of William Gale, passed away at the age of 2 from diptheria on May 18th, 1865.<a id="fnref:32" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:32">[32]</a> Frank Ernest died at the age of 9 on May 29th 1865.</p>
<p>Gale was 29 years old when he and his young family moved to Geraldton in 1858 to establish the general store in partnership with his father in law. A death notice for William Gale in a West Australian newspaper stated that “He was … a hard worker for our Parsonage, which without his energy would not now be completed. He may be considered as the founder of our Agricultural Society, who cannot replace his services, and the foundation-stone of our Mechanics Institute…” Geraldton in 1865 - A Diptheria Epidemic The Western Australian Year Book entry for 1865 states that “Diphtheria makes its first appearance in the Colony<a id="fnref:33" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:33">[33]</a>”. The outbreak of diptheria in the Geraldton region tragically claimed the lives of many in the Scott and Gale families<a id="fnref:34" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:34">[34]</a> - Daniel and Francis Scott, William Gale, as well as John and Frank Gale. Captain Daniel Scott died at the age of 65 late in February 20th, 1865<a id="fnref:35" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:35">[35]</a>, while William Gale died at the age of 37 late on May 24th, 1865.<a id="fnref:36" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:36">[36]</a></p>
<p><strong>Daniel Henry Scott - the Second Generation</strong></p>
<p>Daniel Henry Scott was born in the Swan River Colony on March 3rd, 1834, and was Captain Daniel Scott’s eldest son. Daniel Henry is recorded as buying 20 acres of land at Greenough in 1860, and apparently employed 15 Ticket of Leave convicts at Champion Bay from 1864. At the age of 31, Daniel Henry took over the family businesses after his father’s death.</p>
<p>In 1870, Daniel Henry married Caroline Samson. Caroline was the daughter of Lionel Samson, another prominent merchant in Fremantle. This marriage apparently cemented a strong partnership between the Scott and the Samson families, who had been business partners both in Fremantle and in Geraldton for decades.</p>
<p>Numerous newspaper advertisements in Western Australia printed between 1866 and 1864 refer to “Messrs. Scott and Gale”, in conjunction with cargo travelling to or from Geraldton. There is no mention in any of the records of the careers of William Gale’s 3 sons that they were involved in the business in any way, so it seems that Daniel Henry simply kept the business name the same once both of the original partners had passed away.</p>
<p>Daniel Henry seems to have slightly changed business tack shortly after taking control, and is often mentioned as being an auctioneer of goods and property in Geraldton.</p>
<p>Daniel Henry Scott died in 1874, at which time ownership of his business property on lots 51 and 52 Gregory Street reverted briefly to his wife Caroline and then in 1878, to Mary Ann Gale, his oldest sister. Mary Ann sold the property in September 1878, which brought an end to two generations of enterprise by the Scott and Gale families.</p>
<p><strong>The Bread and Butter of Messrs Scott &amp; Gale</strong></p>
<p>Shipping notices in the West Australian print media throughout the early 1860’s give us some indication of the produce and materials that Scott &amp; Gale were trading in between Geraldton, Fremantle and parts further afield. The following information is from the “Shipping Intelligence” notice for the Port of Fremantle on Wednesday January 10th, 1866:<a id="fnref:37" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:37">[37]</a></p>
<p><strong>Arrived</strong>: January 1. Wild Wave. 28 tons. Cross, master,from Vasse and Bunbury. Passengers-Mrs. Kelley, Mrs. Dora Masters Scott and Gale, and 2 others. Cargo— 215 bags potatoes, 35 casks batter. 1 bag cheese, 36 bales wool, l carpet. 6 bags flour, 20 do. bran, 1 bale leather, and sundries.</p>
<p><strong>Sailed</strong>: January 4. Lass of Geraldton. 37 tons, H. O’Grady, master, for Champion Bay. Passengers — Mr. D. Scott, E. Peckingham, and 2 others. Cargo— 28 £-casks brandy (under bond), 6 loads timber, 12 bags onions, 140 bags potatoes, 1 parcel bats, and 5 pkgs sundries.</p>
<p>Many of the shipping notices for Fremantle leading up to 1865 include similar references to produce moving between Fremantle and Geraldton, where “Messrs. Scott &amp; Gale” were on the same vessel.</p>
<p><strong>The Scott &amp; Gale One Pound Shinplaster - A Valuable Medium of Exchange</strong></p>
<p>The only published reference discovered to date of one of Scott &amp; Gale’s shinplasters actually being in use comes from a newspaper article outlining the court case in July 1860 against <em>“Charles Janes, charged with stealing from the person of Jonathan Taylor, sundry orders for the payment of money, and other articles, at Champion Bay.”</em><a id="fnref:38" class="footnote" title="see footnote" href="#fn:38">[38]</a></p>
<p>The victim of the theft, one Jonathan Taylor, stated that before going to sleep, he <em>“… had nine bank notes, six of Mr G. Shenton’s, two of Mr Thomas Burges’s, one of Scott and Gale’s, an order on Battersby, also a sovereign and some silver ; the notes and papers were in my pocket book, and the money loose in my pocket.”</em> When Taylor woke up, he <em>“…heard a footstep as of someone going from me, and upon opening my eyes I saw the prisoner running across the road and into a thicket. I found my pocket book taken from me, and one of my pockets cut and torn, there was also all the other things I had about me taken away.”</em></p>
<p>The court case goes on to describe the events that followed in great detail, the final turn being that a policeman retrieved the stolen notes from a thatched roof that Janes had stashed them in. Janes was found guilty by a jury of his peers, and was sentenced to 6 years penal servitude for his crime.</p>
<p>The evidence in this court case clearly shows that Scott &amp; Gale’s shinplasters were regarded as being just as valuable a medium of exchange as a sovereign or a silver coin.</p>
<p><strong>One of Australia’s Most Attractive Trader’s Notes</strong></p>
<p>The Scott &amp; Gale shinplaster is an intriguing item of currency, and is arguably one of the most attractive colonial shinplasters issued anywhere in Australia.</p>
<p>It measures up at the same size as a pre-federation note from the same period, and is far larger than many privately-issued notes from other Australian merchants.</p>
<p>The paper quality is rather light, and is very similar in weight to the one pound notes put out by George Shenton in Perth over the same period of time.</p>
<p>It is perhaps hardly surprising that not one surviving example of an issued Scott &amp; Gale one pound note has yet been discovered - their design seems more concerned with appearance, rather than endurance.</p>
<p>The Scott &amp; Gale one pound note is uniface, that is it is printed on one side only, and the back of the note has been left blank. The designs used are also very similar in style and quality to other pre-federation notes issued by banks from the same period. The business that printed them, Blades, East and Blades, also printed notes for such far-flung locales as British North Borneo, The Merchants Bank of Halifax and several provincial British banks.</p>
<p>A black swan is the main design element in the centre of the note - presumably a scene inspired by the swans either on the Greenough River near Geraldton, or the Swan River at Fremantle. The sophistication in the fine detail of the border design and other design elements, coupled with the strength of the lettering used to depict the names of the issuers and the region it relates to, lends an air of authority and strength.</p>
<p>It is without doubt an impressive note, and perhaps is an indication of how Messrs Scott and Gale wanted their business to be seen in the Geraldton community and beyond.</p>
<p> </p>
<div class="footnotes">
<ol><li id="fn:1">
<p>MONETARY AFFAIRS AT CHAMPION BAY. (1866, March 14). The Inquirer and Commercial News (Perth, WA : 1855 - 1901), p. 3. Retrieved July 31, 2014, from <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66012722">http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66012722</a> <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:1"> ↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:2">
<p>Statham-Dew; Pamela, “An Economic History Of Western Australia Since Colonial Settlement”, WA Department of Treasury and Finance, Perth, December 2004, p 8. <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:2"> ↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:3">
<p><a href="http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/scott-daniel-2638">http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/scott-daniel–2638 </a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:4">
<p><a href="http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/AUS-WA-GERALDTON/2000">http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/AUS-WA-GERALDTON/2000</a>–11/0974004555 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:4"> ↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:5">
<p><a href="http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/scott-daniel-2638">http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/scott-daniel–2638 </a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:6">
<p>P. J. Coles, ‘Scott, Daniel (1800–1865)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, <a href="http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/scott-daniel">http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/scott-daniel</a>–2638/text3661, published in hardcopy 1967, accessed online 29 July 2014. <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:6"> ↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:7">
<p><a href="http://www.mcb.wa.gov.au/our-cemeteries/fremantle-cemetery/heritage-walk-trail/fremantle-cemetery-heritage-walk-trail-one">http://www.mcb.wa.gov.au/our-cemeteries/fremantle-cemetery/heritage-walk-trail/fremantle-cemetery-heritage-walk-trail-one</a><a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:7"> </a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:8">
<p>John Longley. “The First Mail Steamer”. Fremantle Ports. <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:8"> </a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:9">
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_John_Currie">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_John_Currie</a> <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:9"> ↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:10">
<p><a href="http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/scott-daniel-2638">http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/scott-daniel–2638 </a><a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:10"> </a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:11">
<p>Kimberly, W.B. (1897). History of West Australia. p. Chapter 6. <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:11"> ↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:12">
<p>Pope, Brian &amp; Western Australian Museum (1991). The philatelic collection of the Western Australian Museum. The Museum, Perth, W.A <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:12"> ↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:13">
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayor_of_Fremantle">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayor_of_Fremantle</a> <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:13"> ↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:14">
<p><a href="http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/AUS-WA-GERALDTON/2000">http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/AUS-WA-GERALDTON/2000</a>–11/0974004555 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:14"> ↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:15">
<p><a href="http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/scott-daniel-2638">http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/scott-daniel–2638</a> <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:15"> </a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:16">
<p>Classified Advertising. (1837, March 4). The Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal (WA : 1833 - 1847), p. 859. Retrieved July 29, 2014, from <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article640070">http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article640070</a> <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:16"> ↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:17">
<p>The Shore Whalers of Western Australia: Historical Archaeology of a Maritime … Martin Gibbs, p15 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:17"> ↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:18">
<p>The Shore Whalers of Western Australia: Historical Archaeology of a Maritime … Martin Gibbs, p15 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:18"> ↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:19">
<p>The Shore Whalers of Western Australia: Historical Archaeology of a Maritime … Martin Gibbs, p15 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:19"> ↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:20">
<p><a href="http://fremantleprison.com.au/history-heritage/history/the-convict-era/">http://fremantleprison.com.au/history-heritage/history/the-convict-era/ </a><a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:20"> </a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:21">
<p><a href="https://www.mindat.org/loc-125694.html">https://www.mindat.org/loc-125694.html</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:22">
<p>Classified Advertising. (1850, January 11). The Perth Gazette and Independent Journal of Politics and News (WA : 1848 - 1864), p. 2. Retrieved July 31, 2014, from <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3171230">http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3171230</a> <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:22"> ↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:23">
<p><a href="https://library.cgg.wa.gov.au/Profiles/library/Assets/ClientData/Heritage_Information_Sheets/Information_Sheet_1_-_Geraldton__Origins_of_a_City.pdf">https://library.cgg.wa.gov.au/Profiles/library/Assets/ClientData/Heritage_Information_Sheets/Information_Sheet_1_-_Geraldton__Origins_of_a_City.pdf</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:24">
<p>Advertising. (1859, September 7). The Inquirer and Commercial News (Perth, WA : 1855 - 1901), p. 4. Retrieved July 30, 2014, from <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66009153">http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66009153</a> <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:24"> ↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:25">
<p>Classified Advertising. (1862, October 10). The Perth Gazette and Independent Journal of Politics and News (WA : 1848 - 1864), p. 4. Retrieved July 30, 2014, from <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2934081">http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2934081</a> <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:25"> ↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:26">
<p><a href="http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/AUS-WA-GERALDTON/2000">http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/AUS-WA-GERALDTON/2000</a>–11/0974004555 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:26"> ↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:27">
<p>Bain, Sister Mary Albertus, A Life of its own: A social and economic history of the City of Geraldton and the Shire of Greenough, 1846–1988 City of Geraldton, 1996, pp. 59–61 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:27"> ↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:28">
<p>Classified Advertising. (1858, September 10). The Perth Gazette and Independent Journal of Politics and News (WA : 1848 - 1864), p. 1. Retrieved July 31, 2014, from <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2931018">http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2931018</a> <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:28"> ↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:29">
<p><a href="http://www.mcb.wa.gov.au/our-cemeteries/fremantle-cemetery/heritage-walk-trail/fremantle-cemetery-heritage-walk-trail-one">http://www.mcb.wa.gov.au/our-cemeteries/fremantle-cemetery/heritage-walk-trail/fremantle-cemetery-heritage-walk-trail-one</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:30">
<p>THE Inquirer &amp; Commercial News. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7, 1865. (1865, June 7). The Inquirer and Commercial News(Perth, WA : 1855 - 1901), p. 2. Retrieved July 29, 2014, from <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66014672">http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66014672</a> <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:30"> ↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:31">
<p>Domestic Sayings and Doings. (1853, March 4). The Perth Gazette and Independent Journal of Politics and News (WA : 1848 - 1864), p. 2. Retrieved July 30, 2014, from <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3174247">http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3174247</a> <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:31"> ↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:32">
<p>Family Notices. (1865, June 2). The Perth Gazette and West Australian Times (WA : 1864 - 1874), p. 2. Retrieved July 29, 2014, from <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3751924">http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3751924</a> <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:32"> ↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:33">
<p><a href="http://www.mocavo.com/Western-Australian-Year-Book">http://www.mocavo.com/Western-Australian-Year-Book</a>–2/711668/70 <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:33"> ↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:34">
<p>CHAMPION BAY. (1865, June 7). The Inquirer and Commercial News (Perth, WA : 1855 - 1901), p. 2. Retrieved July 29, 2014, from <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66014673">http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66014673</a> <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:34"> ↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:35">
<p>Local &amp; Domestic Intelligence. (1865, February 22). The Inquirer and Commercial News (Perth, WA : 1855 - 1901), p. 2. Retrieved July 31, 2014, from <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66013014">http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66013014</a> <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:35"> ↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:36">
<p>THE Inquirer &amp; Commercial News. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7, 1865. (1865, June 7). The Inquirer and Commercial News (Perth, WA : 1855 - 1901), p. 2. Retrieved July 31, 2014, from <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66014672">http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66014672</a> <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:36"> ↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:37">
<p>SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE. (1866, January 10). The Inquirer and Commercial News (Perth, WA : 1855 - 1901), p. 2. Retrieved July 31, 2014, from <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66014621">http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66014621</a> <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:37"> ↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:38">
<p>Quarter Sessions. (1860, July 6). The Perth Gazette and Independent Journal of Politics and News (WA : 1848 - 1864), p. 2. Retrieved July 31, 2014, from <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2932488">http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2932488</a> <a class="reversefootnote" title="return to article" href="#fnref:38"> ↩</a></p>
</li>
</ol></div>
</div>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-research field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Research:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/research/pre-federation-notes">Pre-Federation Notes</a></div></div></div>Thu, 07 Aug 2014 03:00:21 +0000andrew5005 at https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.auhttps://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/research/unissued-one-pound-trader%E2%80%99s-note-scott-gale#comments